This photograph comes from a rather accessible location in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, a place where aspens appear on what is essentially high desert terrain rising toward the crest of the range. There are large groves of aspens here, but the trick is the lighting — the best light, backlight coming over the Sierra, arrives late in the day and only lasts a short time. Consequently timing is everything — arriving when the colors are at their best and being there and ready to photograph when that light hits.

In many places in the Sierra the aspens turn a uniform yellow-gold color, but this is one location where you can see almost every possible aspen fall color in one place: red, orange, yellow, green. Quite often , different ‘layers” of the trees here take on different colors. You can see the effect here, with a few green trees at the front, then a thick band of red-orange trees, a group of yellow trees at the far left, and one more grove with orange leaves further out.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra, (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
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